ptsd Where Should I Head For The Furture

[robert51]

I presently have PTSD 70% IU and PT and i have had this for about 5 years i still go to the doctor every 2 weeks..(over 7 years now ) my meds keep getting higher and higher started out with 300mg of serquol and 100 Zoloft and now i take 700 serquol and 100mg Zoloft, If there was a rating of PTSD 80% i think i could get it but i am not 100% PTSD over the years it was suggested i look into Sleep disorder and do one of those sleep test and get my hearing checked as the doctor says she can tell i have a difficult time hearing her unless she speaks load and direct.. with all this talk of IU possible stoping at 65 should i persue a higher rating and try to get 100% without IU , As a door gunner on a uh1 during nam i have terriable hearing , and tingling in one side sometimes.. as to the sleep disorder , well when i first got my IU and PT i was so burned out on dealing with the VA i just stoped the fighting but now with IU going away maybe should i persue a higher rating to be safe..??

[robert51]

well there was talk of that by Bush in the new report that was made up that VA entitlements should or could be stoped at 65 when SS kicks in but most guys on IU dont really have the quarters for SS to begin with ..... also reading the new's on SS short falls and they say either we need to raise tax's or cut bennies... and with the weak dollar which had some of it strenth based on stock market and equity in housing which is now not a driving force, the new's said the only way to make up for shortfalls is raise tax's Or QUOTE .. SLASH GENEROUS ENTITLEMENTS... and with me getting IU seems i could be one of the so called Generous entitlement types they are talking about...so i am thinking maybe i should try for a 100% without IU

[tssnave]

Robert,

I understand your concern given the whole political climate you outlined.

However, if I understand your post correctly, you think 100% schedular would somehow offer you more protection from losing your VA benefits than remaining 100% IU would if the laws on VA disability change. Is this a correct understanding of your post? If so, please explain why you believe that (if I misunderstood, tell me what I missed and we'll take it from there).

If the laws did change, I doubt they would cut such a fine line as whether or not you were 100% IU vs 100% schedular. They would more likely be broad sweeping changes and not fine detail ones. This is, like your possible scenerio, just speculation on my part. I have to tell you, as a psych vet myself, it's better for me if I don't borrow trouble and worry about the "what ifs" - there's enough "what is" to keep me occupied.

Since VA disability isn't taxable it wouldn't help your SS retirement no matter which way you get 100% (unless they changed the laws on that as well).

I have read on hadit that some experienced posters believe that 100% IU is a "better" rating and "more protected" than 100% schedular. I can't elaborate on that opinion but I have read that here before.

I'm in a situation, like you, where I am not 100% schedular but I am cleary 70% (though the VA rater doesn't see it that way the VA regs do, hence, I'm in the appeals process) and I have requested IU.

Last bit of opinion, and this is mine, unless I had a really compelling reason, based on facts and not possible future events, to open up my claim after I'd been rated 100% IU, I would hold what I had simply because I wouldn't want to get back in this dog fight. It's bad enough when you've got to be in it and for me, I sure wouldn't want to get back in it once I'd won the battle. I'd like to be over and done with it.

I hope this helps. Just my observations and opinions so take what works and toss the rest. Hang in there and keep us posted on what you decide.

Thanks,

TS

[cloudcroft]

Robert,

Just when is IU "going away?"

http://www.hadit.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12394

-- John D.

[robert51]

i saw it on a news program and it was said lowering entitlements was one of the ways to address the problems with the weak dollar and the ss shortfall .... When you think of it which would be the hardest to sell to the US people...raise taxes or drop such entitlement programs as IU and back it up with the .... dont worry these poor vets will still get thier FULL SS benefits just like all americans.. I think of all the ways it could go IU for a vet already collecting a percentage and SS is an easy sell by the powers to be... Its like collecting IU when your 80 years old how many people are still working at 80? I just think taking away a vets IU when he is collecting SS and is over 65 would not be hard to get passed the public. I am still 56 and just looking to the furture . I was just wondering if i should start the long process of trying to get the other 30% now instead of waiting , maybe because it does not affect bottom line the raters will be a little easy to give it ..

Edited September 28, 2007 by robert51

[cloudcroft]

Robert,

I don't know what the political climate will be when you and I are over 65, but I can only hope it is not "Doomsday" for us TDIU vets, even when we are in our 70s/80s.

I guess it WOULD be prudent to take some money each month -- if one could save a serious amount of $$ each month to mean something -- and save/invest it to prepare for the future, but at our ages I don't know if we could make enough money via savings/investments in the few years we have until we get to retirement age to live on if TDIU were done away with, or taken from vets who were in the 70s/80s because "they wouldn't USUALLY be working anyway at that age" (although some people NEVER actually retire, and work until they drop, even into their 90s).

And I'm sure there are TDIU vets who are sitting on claims they COULD file but haven't because they have TDIU and don't want to file anything new or for an increase for whatever reasons. If TDIU really WERE threatened, of course lots of TDIU vets would file those claims and go for 100% schedular, as you mention, which would add to any backlog of claims the VA had.

I don't know what to do myself. I can't file for an increase in my primary mental disability rating -- the disability that got me TDIU -- because I do not at all meet the requirements for being 100% mentally disabled (thank God for that) and I suspect I will NEVER get that bad. So that's out. I DO have a couple of issues I could pursue (10% hearing loss, and GERD as secondary to my primary) but I suspect that even if I won, I'd still not get enough of an increase to make it to 100% schedular. Some OTHER yet unknown issue might come up as I get older I could file for, like some presumptive Agent Orange disease, but who would look forward to getting some illness just to get to 100%? I know I sure don't...I'd rather be a HEALTHY (physically at least) old guy!

So at this point I guess savings/investments are the most viable option, but as I said, I don't think I could save enough or make such brilliant investments to have any real money to get me through my 70s/80s or beyond, to whenever it's time for me to croak. Unless I decided to check out early.

I guess if they dropped me back to my 70% schedular I could get by on that, but it'd be pretty tough and the only places I could afford to live in wouldn't be that great.

Kind of depressing, isn't it.

And since my primary disability IS depression, that's the last thing I need.

-- John D.

Edited September 28, 2007 by cloudcroft

[robert51]

well i was thinking the same way i could make a claim for hearing loss and most likley win and my doctor keeps suggesting the sleep study dont know why she would but i am guessing its tied to PTSD ? I really did not want to go thru the drama and bull filing another claim and i dont want to add to the wait times.. i guess i will wait and see in the next year of so what happens... i do wish PTSD had a 80 and 90% rating instead of 70% or 100% with no between... another thing that seems to be very much in the VA favor is the amount given for 70% and even 90% is so far from 100

Edited September 28, 2007 by robert51